To be a Fangirl
by Riasha
Summary: Hi, I'm Yuki Clark, and I love Seigaku. Its almost like a dream come true when I move nearby and go to the school and meet all of them. But wait! One of them keeps hissing at me! His name is Kaidoh Kaoru, and he sends chills down my spine.
1. Prologue

Hello peoples. This is my first Prince of Tennis fanfic, and though it's totally fun to write, I can tell you now nobody is going to want to read it, lol. I wrote it for my own enjoyment only, and suddenly decided to start posting it, so yeah. I don't have a beta reader, and I haven't watched it for very long, so forgive any errors I make, though I am more than open to hearing anyone out that wants to point those errors out to me. I love constructive criticism. In fact, I thrive on it.

Righto, so a few things. This is going to be about a character I made named Yuki Clark, who has a life, personality, and problems of her own. It's in first person perspective, and the first chapter pretty much sucks, although if you somehow stick it out through to the second chapter, you're sure to get some laughs. I hope.

Since most of my characters reflect myself a lot, and I love Kaidoh, most of the relationship advancements are going to be between Yuki and the Viper. I'm still terrible at characterization, especially when it comes to these characters, and I apologize if it's not very believable.

Ah, I guess that's it. I hope someone enjoys this besides me, because that's what makes it worth writing and posting. The prologue is pretty short, but I promise all the chapters after this will be nearly twice the size, and I'm looking to make this a double digit chaptered fanfic I think. Definitely at least twenty chapters. Maybe more.

Anyway, on to the story!

DSICLAIMER: I do not own PoT. I Do, however, own Yuki Clark. She is my creation, so please ask to use her.

Prologue

Trepidation felt like a living, breathing thing. Anxiousness. I was wearing purple eye-shadow that matched the purple streaks in my stylishly short hair to try and give myself some false confidence, along with a touch of eyeliner/mascara/lipstick. I didn't have a uniform yet so I'd gotten to dress myself too; low riding, tight jeans, a purple t-shirt with a green, purple and gold underbust corset(which probably contributed to my not-so-great breathing), gold flip-flops, gold dangly earrings, and I was feeling pretty good about myself. I wasn't a very big girl, pretty short, pretty light, pretty delicate; cute maybe, but certainly not more than that. Until I'd gone and upped my fashion strangeness and dyed bright purple into my dark hair, I'd looked like a hundred other teenagers. Now I stood out, and I wasn't entirely sure I liked that yet.

A tumult of emotions laid a heavy weight in my gut as I stepped onto Seigaku school grounds, notebook clutched firmly in hand, knees weak and trying to buckle under my own weight. I pushed past the awful feelings and straightened my spine. I wasn't here to harm anyone or anything else. I just wanted to meet them. I wanted to meet the determined, dedicated players of the tennis team finally. The face in my head that stood out the most had dark hair, and had a dark complexion...

No, what was I thinking? Echizen Ryouma's complexion was nearly milky it was so fair. I shook my head hard and continued forward, ignoring the fact that the face in my head was not the one I kept telling myself it was.

Kaoru Kaidoh had caught my attention the very first time I had seen him. Fear had thrilled through me like lightning, tightening my muscles in a fight or flight response, even though the muscular teenager was separated from me by a chain link fence. Even though the look on his face was all for his opponent. I'd been denying a strange fascination with the tennis player since that day. It was like wanting to pet a lion. You knew it was bad for you, but the strange, thrilling urge was still there, running your skin with goosebumbs of fear and tightening your gut into knots.

Of course, all of Seigaku's players had their own appeal. The captain seemed so cold and handsome with his remote stare and untouchable beauty. The prodigy was a mixture of illusions that only fell away when he was on court with a worthy opponent, his blue eyes opening and showing his true, serious, dangerous nature. The vice captain's sweet nature. The acrobatics cuteness. The powerhouse's shyness. The smasher's natural charm. The data specialist's logic and brains. The freshman's cute stoicism and confidence. They all had their own attributes, and I could admit to myself that being around them was probably going to make me melt, but there was one face I would seek out unnaturally. The one that kept people away, the one that frightened.

I gathered my tattered courage -read wits- about me and continued forward, my back ramrod straight (why had I worn this stupid corset again?), my eyes impassive as I could make them. I would NOT swoon and giggle. No fucking way.

"Uh, excuse me?" A gentle voice called in my direction, and a shiver passed through my frame. I pasted a friendly smile into place and turned to find the smiling face of the vice-captain coming closer. "You don't go to this school... and it doesn't even open for another hour." He pointed out gently. "Are you lost?" His voice was so sweet, so inviting, his eyes gentle. I shook my head, earrings twinkling merrily.

"No, no. I'm from Hyotei, and I know exactly where I am, Oishi-sama." I remembered at last second to bow politely (carefully, the corset digging into my ribs) and when I stood back up, his smile was gone, his eyes inquisitive. "I'm here to, this is..."

Okay, in my head, this had gone a lot smoother. After all, I didn't want them to think I was spying for my school, no indeed, that I didn't. Finally I bit back my pride and thrust the notebook and pen at the tennis player, my eyes low. "Please sign my notebook, Oishi-sama!"

Oh, how the mighty have fallen.

The notebook was taken from my shaking (shit, shaking?) fingers and when I dared to look up, Oishi was grinning, a slight blush staining his cheeks.

"Sure... what is your name?"

"Yuki!" I let my gratitude show in my smile. "Yuki Clark."

"That's not a Japanese name." Oishi commented off-handedly as he wrote.

I nodded. "My daddy is an American soldier who was stationed over here. He's been stationed overseas now, but he should be coming back to Japan this winter." I explained. Oishi frowned, seemingly to find folly with my story (which was mostly true!) but refrained from commenting on it. He handed back the notebook and I took it and somehow managed not to open it immediately and moon over the signature there. I was trying really hard not to make Oishi uncomfortable. REALLY hard.

"So you live with your mom, Yuki?" Oishi said as I opened my mouth to give parting words.

"Yeah, not terribly far away." I lied quickly, ignoring the stab in my gut. Oishi made a gesture for us to walk together and I fell into step with him. "The bus ride here wasn't terribly expensive or anything." I said, just to say something. Oishi smiled down at me and I had to fight off a blush. Ugh, I hated being like this, but...

"Here, I'll take you to the courts." Oishi pointed to the practice area just coming into view around the side of the school. "We have morning practice today, so everybody will be out and about." He said congenially, and I gulped down a sudden bout of nervousness. Oh god, I'd been near idiotic with just one of them... how was I going to handle being around all of them? My step faltered slightly and if Oishi noticed, he didn't show it, just kept by my side as we rounded the corner.

My eyes fell on a cherished sight. On the closest court, Kawamura and Fuji were hitting a yellow streak back and forth, obviously just warming up, their hits nothing serious. At the front of the court stood the captain and to the side of the court was the rest of the players minus Oishi, in various stretching poses.

I swear, I almost died right there, watching those muscular bodies move and stretch. A small sound escaped my throat before I could stop it, but luckily, Tezuka called to Oishi just then. The captain's eyes flashed to me briefly, dismissed me, and went to Oishi. I tried to catch my breath, very thankful I hadn't laced the corset as I tight as I usually did.

"Oishi, did you get what I asked for?" the bespectacled man asked in his low, commanding voice.

Oishi nodded and smiled. "Yes, Tezuka." Oishi lengthened his stride to hand his captain something, and I stood frozen in place. "I brought a girl from-" Oishi stuttered to a stop and glanced at me, "I brought a friend who wants to get our autographs." Tezuka's lip twitched, whether it be humor or annoyance I couldn't tell.

I tried to look unassuming. Oishi hadn't told them I was from Hyotei... was he afraid they would chase me out or something?

"She can watch us practice." Tezuka said briefly, eyes on me, before turning back to watch his players warm up. Excitement washed through me.

Oh god, oh god, oh god.

Oishi motioned me closer. My feet moved me inexorably and he held the gate open while I hesitated outside of it.

"Here, Yuki, I'll introduce you to everyone before practice gets into full swing."

Something must have shown on my face, because Oishi's filled with compassion, but he stayed silent, holding the metal door open for me. Finally I entered, not looking at any of them somehow. I cursed myself up and down, forcing courage into my spine by sheer willpower. I was NOT some raving, blushing, idiotic fan that couldn't hold a normal conversation!

We ventured over to the captain, and I made myself look up and give him a pleasant smile, holding my hand out for a shake in a very American gesture. Okay, so I just wanted an excuse to touch. So sue me. "Tezuka-sama, captain of the team, it's so nice to meet you." I was relieved to find my voice at least mostly even. Whew. The captain nodded to me over our briefly joined hands and that was that.

Next.

"Momoshiro-sama-" My words were cut off even as my hand was taken in a firm grasp.

"Call me Momo-chan." He said, his eyes twinkling with a mixture of mischief and arrogance.

"Momo-_kun_," Extra emphasis on the -kun, "I hope we can be friends." I felt an easy smile appearing on my face. I couldnt help it, Momo just seemed to put me at ease.

Next.

"Hnn? I think Momo likes you, Yuki-chan!" Kikumaru hopped to his feet in a smooth, easy movement and took my hand before I offered it. I grinned at the cute redhead.

"Kikumaru-kun, that's a very funny thing to say. I heard Momoshiro is dating Tachibana Anne." I sent a wink at Kikumaru and a covert look over my shoulder at Momo's shocked face.

"Where did you hear that?" He managed to ask weakly after a moment.

I shrugged negligently. "Rumors, that's all."

Kikumaru was twittering into his hand and Inui was writing furiously in his notebook, a manic grin on his face.

"Yuki, eh?" He said, without looking up. "Junior year, Hyotei. 158 Centimeters, 55 kilograms. Doesn't play tennis, but sits at every game. Likes Pepperidge Farm cookies. Dislikes chips." Inui lifted his glasses covered gaze to grin at me. I nodded wordlessly.

"You even took data on me?" I asked numbly. His glasses glinted, going opaque, and I swallowed. "Jeez. Talk about dedicated." I muttered, but stuck out my hand anyway. He juggled his notebook and pen into one hand and grasp mine firmly.

Next.

Oh god, cuteness. I felt vaguely dirty for wanting to touch the boy who stood up, coming to about my height. "Echizen Ryouma." My voice was lifeless as I tried to keep myself in check. "Watching you play tennis has been one of the most awesome experiences of my lifetime." I recited from memory. I knew if I hadn't memorized something I would have sat there and said things like "golly gee whiz" and "oh my god". So, the recitation.

"Oh?" He took my hand. "If you're from Hyotei, why are you here?" He asked directly, his intelligent eyes looking hard into mine. I took as deep a breath as I could in the constrictive thing wrapped around my middle.

"Because I'm transferring into Seigaku."


	2. Chapter 1

AN: This promises to be a much longer, much more interesting, and much funnier chapter. I hope. ._.

Chapter 1.

There was silence all around. Finally, the scratching of a pencil broke it.

"I see." Inui said, finally closing his notebook and nodding to me.

Before I could ask what the heck THAT meant, Fuji and Kawamura had finished their warm-up set and came over to do the whole meet-and-greet.

Next.

"I hope you enjoy your time at Seigaku." Fuji said warmly, shaking my hand with both of his, his eternal smile in place. I was surprised to find I was actually slightly creeped out by that smile up close. I pulled my hand away perhaps a bit sooner than was polite and turned my too-bright smile to Kawamura, who blushed slightly.

"Seigaku is a very good school to go to." he said, shaking my hand and letting it go quickly. My smile gentled, toning down a few notches. An insolent tone interrupted before I could reply.

"Hyotei is a very good school too." Echizen said, arms pulled up behind his head, looking at me with one sharp eye as he was half turned away. I fought to sound nonchalant.

"Seigaku beat Hyotei in the Kantou Regional's, didn't you?" I shrugged. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a grin tug the corner of the freshman's mouth before he turned away to go finish warming up.

Next.

I swallowed convulsively.

Brave front. Yes.

"And last but not least," I said, perhaps a little too much bravado in my voice, "Kaidoh Kaoru! Aka: the viper." My smile was back at full wattage, too bright. It was the smile I got when I was nervous, or angry, or sad... or pretty much any strong emotion I didn't want to reveal.

"Hmph." Was the response. Praying silently for my safety I rushed up and took his hand before my courage could betray me. The response I got cut the words I had been about to say off. What I saw was not predatory anger. What I had been sure I had seen briefly was a very human fear. He yanked his hand away from me and self-loathing like a fine, foamy rage covered the fear.

"Don't touch me." His rough voice was low and demanding and he brushed past me. I stood there, quite shocked.

He wasn't angry at me, he was angry at himself. I knew I was still wearing my deer-in-the-headlights look from shock of what I had seen.

Kaidoh hated and feared himself.

A heavy arm flung about my shoulders startled me.

"Ah, don't mind that idiot." Momo said, grinning down at me. I gave him a weak grin back and let him lead me to the edge of the court, near the captain. "Here, now you can watch in relative safety." He winked at me and loped back onto the court, quickly finding his racket and going to it.

~*~

I tried to give the practice as much attention as it deserved, but my eyes kept going to the bandana-wearing player. I knew he felt my eyes because he glared at me once or twice to get his point across that he didn't enjoy being stared at, but I couldn't seem to help myself. When he hit his signature boomerang snake shot, I actually gasped aloud and leapt to my feet to see better. Of course, once he realized he'd caught my attention, he seemed to refuse to hit it again. Fuji, his current partner, glanced between us, his creepy smile seeming to comprehend the situation. Even Tezuka noticed.

"If your presence interrupts my practice, I'm going to have to ask you to leave." The captain said in his oh-so even voice.

"I understand." I said lowly, feeling like the biggest idiot. I sank back onto the ground. "Please forgive me." From there on out I sat quietly, trying to draw as little attention to myself as possible.

Too soon, the practice was over, and I got everybody to sign my notebook before they left to change for school. Perverted images of them in various states of undress paraded through my brain at the thought of locker-room happenings, and I forced them out with no small amount of will.

The only person who refused to sign my notebook was Kaidoh.

~*~

I was surprised to find my first period math class was with Kikumaru, Oishi, Inui, Kawamura, Fuji, AND Tezuka. I felt my eyes widen as all of them paraded through the door and when they saw me, I waved tentatively.

Kikumaru, Oishi and Fuji came right over, Tezuka and Inui going directly to their desks.

"Hoi hoi!" Kikumaru had an irresistible grin and I gave in immediately, grinning back.

"Hey. You guys are all in the same math class, huh?"

Oishi nodded and Fuji just continued to smile. Kikumaru didn't hesitate to sit right on top of my desk though, putting him uncomfortably close. I fought the urge to scoot my chair back and lost, finally giving myself a few inches.

"So do you play tennis?" Kawamura ventured quietly, having taken the seat directly behind me. I was turning too many colors what with all of this attention, and I shook my head vehemently.

"Ah, no. I'm actually pretty terrible at it. At all sports that involve hand-eye coordination." I felt even more blood race up to my face and found myself staring at, for some god damned reason, Fuji.

"Maybe all you need is the right teacher." The prodigy continued to smile gently and I began to lose the idea of creepiness when looking at him. That weird smile, that strange happiness, it was just Fuji now.

"Maybe your right." I agreed, just because I wanted the conversation to go somewhere else. I was a hopeless case when it came to playing any sport, and I knew it. I was straight terrible.

"Maybe one of us could give you some pointers sometime." He persisted, and I blanched.

"I would never presume to ask one of you to-"

"Yuki." Fuji gave me a brief peek of his eyes and I shut up. "We are not royalty. And I'm offering."

Now I was pretty confused. Why in the world was Fuji Syusuke, prodigy of Seigaku junior high, offering to help little old me?

"Um, thanks. Maybe we can do that sometime." I was still going for the nod and agree and wait for the subject to change technique, and it finally worked, because the teacher came in, calling attention as he did. I had picked a desk in the middle row with a window on the left. Fuji sat next to me, Kawamura behind me, Kikumaru in front of me, Tezuka in front of Fuji, and Oishi to Tezuka's right. Inui was behind Fuji, and I was surrounded, my only comfortable acquaintance, Oishi, farthest away. I diligently tried to ignore all of the sexy bodies around me and concentrated on listening to the teacher and taking notes.

Jeez, and here I'd thought math class would be a bore.

~*~

The rest of my day remained just as interesting.

When the bell rang signaling the end of first period, Tezuka was just suddenly in front of me. "What is your next class?" He asked in his commanding voice, and I got out my schedule.

"English III in room 112." I gave him a tentative smile and he cocked his head towards the door.

"Come on, I have that class as well. I'll escort you."

Even with my blood alternately freezing and boiling in my veins, I managed to get up and follow him. The room was down the stairs, third door to the right in the left hand hall. I tried to memorize that and prayed I'd be able to follow people from class to class for the first few days... or weeks.

Upon entering the classroom, I was a little surprised to see Echizen as the only other tennis player who had this class. Echizen was a freshman, and this was not a freshman class. I debated for a second how much I wanted to know, and decided that I definitely cared, and didn't think it would be ultra nosy of me. So I took the seat in front of him, beside Tezuka in another middle row, and twisted around to get his attention.

"Yes?" He said, none too politely. I realized immediately that he didn't even recognize me from only two hours ago and still somehow I wasn't offended.

"Hi Echizen-kun. I was at the courts this morning, Yuki Clark?" Comprehension dawned slowly on his face and I let out a breath I didn't know I'd been holding.

"You're the one that was hitting on me and Kaidoh." He said it deadpan, and I gaped like a fish.

"Pass that by me again?"

He grinned. "You were staring at him the whole time you were out there."

Shit. Double-fricking-shit. Exasperated, I said it out loud. "Shit."

His eyes, and smile, widened. I opted for a subject change as the best way to deal with this situation, and so went ahead with the plan.

"Hey, uh, so why are you in this class? Are you just really good at English and tennis?"

His eyebrow twitched and he smirked. "Still hitting on me?"

I skipped the gaping fish routine this time around and took a deep breath. "I was just curious." I qualified carefully, trying to cut out this hitting on him shit. Him saying that made me feel like a pedophile, even if I wasn't quite an adult yet.

"I was born and raised in America." He finally said, and before I could even open my mouth to ask more, the teacher hurried into the room, looking cranky, so I decided quiet was good for today.

This cranky teacher was the first one to ask me to get up and introduce myself (which I did in slanged-up English just to mess with them), but he wasn't the last. Echizen kept grinning when the teacher asked me to explain something I'd said, and I realized Echizen was the only one who was wise to what I was doing. We traded grins, and then the class went on.

Third period found me quite lost, and consequently late. I popped into the World History classroom to find the teacher had started without me and was looking murderous at having his lecture interrupted. Since I was terrible at history anyway (I mixed up dates like crazy) I decided to make him my enemy and complained heartily about not being able to find the classroom and this being my first day here and him making me feel bad... I pretty much pulled a very 'girl' act, and he wrinkled his nose, changed his tardy to present, and let me give myself a very brief introduction. It was during this introduction that I saw Momoshiro in the back left-hand row, a hand lifted in greeting. As many seats down as he could sit, was Kaidoh, giving me murderous glares next to the window, also in the back row.

Momo pointed to the seat next to his, and after I unfroze my limbs I made my way to it.

"Hey, how's it going?" He didn't even bother to lower his voice, interrupting the already frazzled teacher once again. I glanced up at the head of the classroom to see the teacher glaring at the both of us and hid a grin.

"It's cool." I answered, and gave him the grin I'd hid from the teacher.

"Good." Momo said.

The teacher cleared his throat pointedly. "Can I continue, now, people?" His tone was pretty angry.

"Be my guest." Momo said, and I got the distinct impression Momo disliked this teacher too. Heh. What were the odds? With a last glare, the teacher turned back to the blackboard and continued.

~*~

I shared Momo's history book that day, and when the period ended, he offered to help me find my next class, the last one before lunch; World Geography. I moaned soulfully at having to take that class and tried to listen to Momo's directions, but I just didn't get it.

"Hey Viper," he called as Kaidoh started past out of the classroom, "you going near World Geography?"

"What did you just call me?" the sullen look was gone and replaced with outright rage. "Dumbass..." He snarled, and started to turn away. At last second, he turned back to me and growled out, "it's my next class."

I stared, a little surprised, and even more surprised that he waited for my reply. "I'll follow you then." I said, and away we went.

We got to the classroom rather quickly (I'd had to do some dodging and trotting to keep up with him) and were the first ones there. The only ones there. Even the teacher was missing. Kaidoh dropped his bag in an identical seat to the one he'd been occupying in the last class, back row, next to the window, and spun around to glare at me.

"Why were you watching me this morning?"

Oh, shit. Um.

"Um..." I floundered, and stuttered, and finally managed to say," I really like to watch you play."

Laaaaame.

"Well stop it." He said, not looking at me anymore. "It's annoying."

Rage made my face burn and my tongue loose. "Fuck off."

Whoops. Sometimes my mouth reacted before my brain. Luckily, Mr. Snakeman seemed too astonished at being talked back to by me to react for a moment, and I took the opportunity to take the seat next to his and change the subject.

"Weather's nice. Hope it holds for the finals." I was proud that it came off like an idle comment. Mucho brownie points for Yuki! People filtered in, Kaidoh stayed silent, and class began.

~*~

I stayed so quiet and inconspicuous that period that the teacher didn't even realize who I was until almost the end of the class. He made me stand up, told them who I was, and then continued the class. Geography was one of my least favorite classes, but the teacher wasn't half bad. When the period ended, I was a whirlwind of packing and I stood up over Mr. Snakeman until he looked up and noticed me. And glared. And hissed. And yes, I shook and stammered and felt like my heart was trying to crawl out of my chest.

"Will you please show me where the lunch room is?" Even my voice had a slight quaver, and I stripped myself of all previously earned brownie points. Bad Yuki, no cookie.

Kaidoh looked quite ready to decline, but finally just nodded and left the classroom wordlessly. I followed on his heels, afraid of losing him, but he actually went a normal pace, and going in his wake was easy since anyone in his path pretty much scrambled to get out of the way. Some of them seemed a little taken-aback to see me following close behind, but I ignored it. For now.

Okay, that deserved one brownie point. Just one.

We entered the lunch room and before he could escape, I leapt in front of him. "Can I sit with you?"

"No." And he brushed by me and made his escape anyway. I huffed and scanned the room, looking for a friendly face. I found several.

"Yuki!" Momo called.

"Hoi hoi!" Kikumaru waved.

"It'd be nice if you joined us." Kawamura said.

"How's your first day going?" Fuji inquired.

I probably drained of color, because the whole of the Seigaku regular's team was waving at me and calling to me. I couple of girls sent me some pretty dirty looks, and I sighed and trudged over, plunking my tray down across from the golden pair, and in between Momo and Kawamura. I'd thought getting purple streaks in my hair and wearing interesting clothes was conspicuous. Well, _now_ I was shown what conspicuous was. It was sitting with a bunch of people I didn't know, all male, and all trying to talk to me. I ignored the greetings and got down to the biggest question on my mind.

"Is there a reason the whole of Seigaku's tennis regular's are singling out me?" I said, and got varied reactions, from outright stares to guilty expressions. Some of their faces told me nothing, but Oishi looked pretty guilty. Echizen just looked bored next to him.

"Oishi-kun." I said sharply, and he grinned nervously.

"We, uh-"

Fuji jumped in from the other side of Kawamura. "We're just keeping an eye on you, Yuki. Since you came from Hyotei, we're trying to make sure you're really a friend and not a very smart enemy." He continued to grin pleasantly at me, and I traded glances with many of them.

"Whatever." I said, and started eating the sandwich I'd brought from home. I nearly felt the collective relief from them, and wondering if maybe Fuji wasn't lying. It was certainly something to think about when I got the chance.

At the moment, I was too busy fielding questions.

"So, your first day has been good so far?" Fuji reiterated his earlier question.

"Yeah-"

Momo cut in. "Oh, did the viper behave himself?"

Said reptile hissed from the very end of the table to the right, across from Fuji. I stared around the table and worked on sorting everyone out.

To my direct left sat Momo, and next to him, Tezuka. To my direct right was Kawamura, and beside him, Fuji. Starting on the right, across the table from Fuji sat Kaidoh (currently glaring at Momo). To Kaidoh's left was Inui, and to Inui's left and across from me was Kikumaru. Next to Kikumaru sat Oishi, and at the end, across from Tezuka, was Echizen. I was completely surrounded by hot man meat.

My cheeks coloring from that last thought, I tried to answer Momo's question.

"Define 'behave'." I said, and Mr. Snakeman's taut, angry-looking face turned to glare at me. Momo and Kikumaru chuckled, quietly. I glared back at Kaidoh, because god-dammit, I was NOT afraid. At least, not with all of his friends sitting around me to keep me safe. I knew they weren't really my friends, and that they were just going to make sure I wasn't someone who planned against them (or at least, that's what they had said) but I also knew that they would not let anyone hurt me. It wasn't really any feelings for me, it was just a general chivalry. It was nice, and made me feel strangely safe.

The conversation moved forward onto school and tennis and the like, and I sat quietly and listened. Don't ask me why, but I found myself slowly relaxing into the atmosphere, even when Kaidoh and Momo stood up to yell at each other, Momo leaning over me to yell in Kaidoh's face, which was only possible because Kaidoh was leaning right back at him, looking murderous. I snickered under my breath and found that I had broken a tense moment of silence, because everyone looked at me.

"Ah, no fighting boys." And for some reason I found that hilarious and started giggling. I got some weird looks, there was a bit of confusion about my reaction, and Kaidoh and Momo both sat back in their seats at the same moment. Kaidoh looked nearly petulant with anger, and Momo looked perplexed.

I laughed harder.

I know, I know, there was nothing funny going on, right? Nothing at all, but for some reason the whole situation, Momo and Kaidoh's anger, my complete lack of fear and dwindling tension; the looks on the others faces. I just found the whole thing hilarious. I finally got my girly giggles turned off and just managed to finish my lunch as the conversation picked back up.

Fuji was coming back from trashing something-or-other and he tapped me on the shoulder to get my attention. I twisted and smiled up over my shoulder at him.

"What's up?"

Fuji's pleasant expression deepened into something closer to a true smile. "What class do you have next Yuki?" He asked politely.

I fumbled in my pocket for the schedule and pulled it open.

"Uh... let's see. It looks like I have Chemistry fifth period." I made a face. I'd never really liked Science. In fact, the only classes I did like were Math and English. I enjoyed my strengths.

"We have two classes together then." Fuji tipped his head to the side. "Lunch is almost over, and I'm about to go to class early to help set up. Would you like to accompany me?" His expression never faltered, and I wondered briefly if Fuji could say he'd killed someone or lost tennis in the same tone of voice. No, if he lost tennis he'd probably not say anything at all.

"Thanks, Fuji! I'd really appreciate that." I gathered my stuff and, once again, away we went.

Once out in the relative quiet of the hallway, Fuji turned his head to smile at me as we walked.

"So what did Kaidoh do, Yuki?" He asked gently.

I laughed. "Nothing really." Fuji lifted his brows in question and I took a breath to explain. "He really didn't do anything. He was just complaining about being stared at during his match," I couldn't look anywhere but the floor, "and I kind of went off on him."

To my surprise, Fuji laughed. "What did you say to him?"

I regarded him with a frown. "Why do you ask?"

Fuji sure was asking a lot of questions.

"Kaidoh looks like he can't decide whether to ignore you or be mad at you, that's why. I've never seen Kaidoh be so unsure about someone, not since Echizen."

I was taken aback. "What do you mean?"

Fuji turned into the classroom ahead of me and set his books down on the nearest desk. He turned to me with a smile. "I mean that you've thoroughly confused him. What did you say?" He asked again.

I licked my lips. "He told me to stop staring at him while he played, and I-" My cheeks got even darker. "I told him to fuck off."

Fuji cracked up. "You did what?" he had a hand over his mouth, trying to suppress his amusement. I gave him a glare.

"I didn't mean to say it. It just popped out." I left Fuji to his laughing and found a desk to sit at.

The class didn't start for a few more minutes so I got out a novel and started reading as I waited, tapping the eraser side of my pencil on the desk absently. I was back to being relaxed and ready to learn when the bell rang and Fuji came to sit next to me, done setting up. Students started trickling in.

"Hey, Yuki?" I looked to my left at the tennis prodigy. "Are you good at this class?"

"No, terrible." I admitted.

"Wonderful." He was smiling almost like he meant it. "I don't have a partner because the last student I'd partnered with dropped out. Would you be willing to partner up with me? I'll help you as much as I'm able."

I frowned. Was Fuji offering to help me pass the class, or was he offering to do my share of the work? Was I really that selfish and lazy?

Yeah, I was.

"That sounds great, Fuji. I really appreciate you offering." I returned the smile, and Fuji shifted our desks closer together. A few more students walked into the class, and one of the girls went right to Fuji's desk like she was on a mission.

It turned out she was.

"Neh, Fuji-sempai, would you be willing to let me take the place of your old partner?" She asked, looking quite sure of herself. The girl looked like the quintessential American teenager; blonde, straight hair cut below her shoulders in layers, big blue eyes, perfect lips. My jaw dropped open and I counted my luck dry.

That was, until Fuji spoke.

"I'm sorry Kagura, I already have a partner." He smiled pleasantly.

The blonde beauty, Kagura, pouted at him. "Surely you can partner with me instead? I could really use the help, Fuji-sempai." Christ, the girl even batted her eyelashes at him.

Fuji's expression never changed. "Kagura, you're being rude to Yuki." He lifted a hand to place it over mine. "I already promised myself to her."

I gaped for a moment and then yanked my hand out from under Fuji's, wondering what the hell was going on. I looked to the girl to see if she could give me any clues, because Fuji's grin didn't tell me shit.

Kagura looked pretty taken aback to realize she was being refused, and she looked at me. Her eyes did that quick scan other girls do to each other. It was what girls did when they met a new girl; they checked to see if they were better looking or not and adjusted their attitude depending. Kagura clearly found me lacking, which only added to her confusion.

The girl was fucking persistent, too. "Why? Why are you being so stubborn?"

And Fuji's expression finally changed, his eyes opened; Kagura took a step back from whatever she saw in his eyes. "Kagura, you don't want a partner, you want someone to do your work for you. It's pretty despicable." And with that, Fuji turned to me, his pleasant expression already firmly back in place.

Kagura looked shocked for a second, and I just barely caught the glimmer of tears in her eyes before she hurried away.

"Whoa, that was a bit harsh, wasn't it, Fuji-kun?"

Fuji tipped his head to the side. "I enjoyed being able to speak to her truthfully." He told me gleefully, and I realized two things at once: One, Fuji had been trying to avoid her. Two, Fuji was just a tad sadistic. I jotted those things down in my memory under the big blank mystery that was Fuji Syusuke and then turned to the front as the class started.

It sure had been a long, and informative day.

~*~

"I thought you didn't want to do two people's work." I grumbled as Fuji once again pretty much took over the assignment. It was somewhere near the end of the period, and we were given worksheets to do with our partners. Except Fuji seemed to be doing all the work.

"That's not what I said." he corrected, and continued writing out the answers to the worksheet.

I considered that. "You said you didn't want to do Kagura's work." I frowned. "So you would have refused to partner with her even if you hadn't asked me?"

"Yes." He didn't even pause in what he was writing.

I took a breath. "I got the feeling she's not used to being refused."

His lips twitched. "It was fun watching her struggle with it, ne?"

Okay, suspicions confirmed.

I giggled. "Yeah, it kind of was." We shared a brief smile and then Fuji went back to work.

"Hey, Fuji."

He continued writing, mostly ignoring me. My brow twitched.

"I'm not going to learn anything if you do all the work for me."

He signed both of our names to the top with a flourish, my name looking suspiciously somewhat similar to my handwriting.

"Fuji!" I said, a bit outraged. He got up and scooted up through the rows to turn the paper in before I could stop him. I sighed. Hadn't this been what I wanted five minutes ago?

Well, shit.

He eased back into his seat. I sat still for several moments and then finally came upon a sudden decision that I probably should have put some thought into, and instead simply acted on.

I used my whole body to twist and sock Fuji in the arm. He gave a small surprised cry and lifted his hand up to rub the spot I'd hit, giving me a surprised look.

"If you really want to help me, teach me. Don't do my work for me." I mumbled. I threw away my chance for an easy A in Chemistry and mourned it's loss.

Fuji was smiling sardonically. "That actually hurt."

"It was supposed to." I shot back, and leaned back in my chair, crossing my arms over my chest. Fuji shook his head and was silent for a long moment. I was spacing out when he finally spoke.

"We'll do it your way, then." And I looked at him in confusion, because it had been long enough I had forgotten what we had been talking about. Finally it dawned on me and I sat up straight.

"Good." I said, and my voice sounded irritable.

Fuji pulled his Chem book close and started flipping through it. "Here, I'll try to brief you on where we are and whats going on so far."

Ten minutes later I was thoroughly confused, my head was pounding, and I was more than ready to take it back. _Please forget everything that just happened and carry me through this,_ I wanted to say. But I didn't, and the bell rang, and Fuji was smiling at me.

"So, did you understand all that?"

I nodded an affirmative. "Yeah..." I snorted. "No." I grinned. "Not really."

He laughed. "That's okay. I'll help you." The glint in his eye told me he was quite enjoying watching me struggle to keep up with him, and I took a shaky breath.

"Sadistic bastard," was just a murmur under my breath, but Fuji must have heard me, because he laughed harder and gathered up his stuff. Since all I had was my bag and the pencil I hadn't even written my own name with, I was ready quicker than him. I yanked out my schedule and scanned to the last period of the day. I'd had to take another Science course to make up for one I'd failed last year, and they'd given me a few choices of some unusual ones. Fuji pointed me towards the classroom, giving me clear directions, and I walked into the Animal Studies room on time.

Kaidoh was in what I realized was his usual seat, back row, right-hand side, and after a moment of panicked hesitation, I lifted my hand in greeting and slid down the rows towards him, feigning perfect ease. "Hey." I smiled pleasantly, even when all I got for my trouble was a black glare. When I didn't react, Kaidoh turned away, refusing to look at me, and I slid into the desk next to his.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him tense.

"Are you stalking me?" He asked roughly.

I gave him a bright, sunny smile. "Yep."

And as his face turned astonished, the teacher walked in and started the class.


End file.
